Creme Brulee Cupcakes

For Hubby’s birthday, I told him I’d make a treat for him to take in to work. As I’ve mentioned before, his favorite dessert is creme brulee. I’ve made ittwice for him already. But, creme brulee doesn’t travel to work very well. So instead, I gave him a list of 10 desserts that are at the top of my must-bake list.

When I added this recipe as the last option for him, I knew there was no point in even giving him the list. Sure enough, he chose his favorite dessert in cupcake form for his birthday treat.

I have to admit that I’m very glad he chose this recipe, because it’s amazing. The cupcakes really do taste like creme brulee. I made the cupcakes and frosting the night before his birthday and then we torched them in the morning before heading to work. Hubby said they only lasted about 10 minutes in the kitchen at work.

The other great thing about these cupcakes is that I found my new favorite way to frost a cupcake. I just loved how the cupcakes looked with a good portion of the cake peaking out, but there still being plenty of frosting. I decided at that point that I will be frosting cupcakes like this again (as I did for my Red Velvet cupcakes).

As a side note, for those of you who know, Hubby’s birthday is in February. This post is going up in April. I tend to do this unless there is a deadline for a blogging event. When I make something to be blogged, I add the pictures, recipe and link to the original source, then save it as a draft. Then on some random day, I go back and finish up the post and set it to publish at some point in the future. So on an evening like tonight, I can bust out about 10 posts while Hubby plays video games with his buddy. Then if I don’t have time to write blog posts for another month, it’s ok.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately beat in dry ingredients and milk.

Add caramel syrup and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry. Gently fold whites into batter.

Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.

Put sugar, egg whites and salt into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees). Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes total.

Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and continue beating 1 minute to reduce air bubbles.

To assemble cupcakesRemove center of cupcake using the cone method. Fill cupcake with buttercream. Sprinkle brown sugar on top and caramelize with creme brulee torch.

I’d like to try making these for a coworker’s birthday, but I have 2 questions. First, is there anyway to toast the top if I don’t have a torch? Second, how far in advance could I make all or any of the components? Thanks!

Xiaolu – Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I was on vacation. I don’t know if you could torch them without a torch… I know for creme brulee you can use a broiler, but it doesn’t work so well. I wouldn’t make these too far in advance. We noticed the cupcakes going stale within a day or two.

Hi again, Jen! I didn’t end up making these until tonight. They taste good, but this was my first time making SMBC and I think I did something wrong. It’s funny, my buttercream never broke/curdled when I added the butter and I heard slapping noises almost immediately. But it was too soft to pipe, so I chilled it then rewhipped. Unfortunately, the SMBC softened again pretty quickly and also started looking a little curdled. Do you have any idea what I might’ve done wrong? Could the meringue have been too warm still when I added the butter? Thanks again!

Xiaolu – Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I’m no expert on SMBC, but your butter may have been too soft. It should be just at room temp. I would definitely check out this tutorial on SMBC. I found it very helpful when I was first starting to make SMBC.

I’ve made these cupcakes, and they are amazing, but when I use my creme brulee torch to carmelize the sugar, the frosting melted and slid off the cupcake. To get around this, I carmelized the brown sugar on a piece of tinfoil and then placed the pieces on top of the frosting. I tried using a smaller flame, holding the torch further away from the cupcake, and even froze the cupcake with the frosting for a little bit, but nothing would stop the frosting from melting off. Am I doing something wrong?

Tonya, It’s been a while since I made these, but I do remember that the first one I did, the frosting melted off. After that I had Hubby do the torching and he just kept the flame further away from the frosting. We also let the set before moving them once they had been torched. Sorry that you’re having so much trouble with the recipe. But it sounds like you may have found a solution.

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I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. (more)

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